The United States has granted Jordan a 37.6-million-dollar grant, the first batch of an overall $150 million economic assistance package designed for the Kingdom this year, reported the Jordan Times newspaper on Saturday.

“The grant will be channeled to ongoing United States Agency for International Development (USAID) initiatives to increase economic opportunities for Jordanians,” said a US embassy statement.

The grant will support micro-finance programs, business associations, policy reform implementation and business services to provide technical assistance to small- and medium-size enterprises and public and private sector institutions, said the statement.

Also, a portion of the funds will be used to support the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ).

"Part of the assistance has been used on the customs infrastructure in Aqaba to make possible a very good start to the zone, and part is going to help provide technical assistance and planning for the Qualifying Industrial Zone which is being established in Aqaba which will create an enormous number of jobs, and which will help boost Jordanian exports to the US," said US Ambassador to Jordan William Burns.

According to the US embassy, Jordan received $429.2 million in grants last year.

These were a $200 million grant through the USAID, a $225 million in foreign military financing grant, a $2.6 million grant for the Humanitarian De-mining Program and a $1.6 grant million in International Military Education and Training Program, said the paper – Albawaba.com